Thermalright AXP-140 HTPC CPU Cooler Review

Thermalright AXP-140 – CPU Cooler For HTPCs

For many years Thermalright heat sinks have ruled the air cooling world. Be it CPU, GPU, or chipset cooling, there were few heat sinks that could compete with a Thermalright. Over the past couple of years, CPU coolers have grown in height, which makes it difficult to find a decent cooler that will fit in a small form factor PC. Traditional “desktop” style cases and most mATX cases have components that hang over the top of the CPU area, which leaves precious few millimeters to fit an efficient heat sink.

With more and more interest in small form factor computers, like HTPC’s, or just a LAN box, Thermalright recognized that this was an ever increasing market and decided to give it a shot. The result of their effort is an extremely effective CPU cooler that will fit into some very tight spaces.

Those of you that were around during the reign of Athlon 64 will immediately recognize this heat sink. The Thermalright AXP-120 was “the” air cooler to have back then. The heat sink we have here today is the AXP-140. As the name suggests, this heat sink is designed to use a 140mm (14cm if you prefer) fan to help keep your CPU and other components from releasing all that expensive smoke they have in them. With 6 heat pipes whisking away heat, this looks to be another home run from the gang at Thermalright.

By today’s standards the AXP-140 looks small, especially when you consider a monster like the Cooler Master V10. We’ll just call it compact. Thermalright makes it clear that this heat sink is designed to be used in small systems. Measuring 145mm L x 147mm W x 70.2mm H, it weighs an impressive 1.98lbs.

The bundle included with the AXP-140 is similar to any other heat sink that I have ever received from them. We have the heat sink, the back plate, the fasteners, instructions, and a bit of thermal interface material. Also notice the small wrench.

Although they are not in color, the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.